Opposition to President: 'PM must address Parliament on Manipur'

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, August 2

After several acrimonious exchanges with the Treasury Bench over the modalities of discussing the Manipur issue in Parliament, INDIA parties on Wednesday knocked the doors of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

14K school kids hit

• As many as 14,763 school kids have been displaced in Manipur, Education Ministry has informed the Rajya Sabha
• Nodal officers of relief camps to facilitate admission of the kids

They complained to President Droupadi Murmu against the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of trying to avoid any comprehensive discussion on Manipur.

Briefing reporters outside Rashtrapati Bhavan, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who led the 31-member opposition MPs team that met the President, said they also told the President that PM Modi must visit Manipur and take steps to restore peace in the state.

While the logjam continues in the Rajya Sabha on whether the Manipur issue should be discussed under Rule 267 (by suspending all listed business as demanded by Opposition) or as a short duration discussion under Rule 176 (preferred by the government), the Lok Sabha recently accepted the Opposition notice for a no-confidence motion on the subject.

Kharge alleged that the no-confidence motion has been deliberately listed towards the end of the session so that there could be no further debate after the PM replied to the discussion. The President assured the opposition MPs that their complaints would be looked into. The MPs also submitted a memorandum to the President. In the memorandum, they urged the President “to press upon the Prime Minister to urgently address Parliament about the prevailing situation in Manipur, followed by a detailed and comprehensive discussion on the matter”.